Friday, November 16, 2012

I have hosted Thanksgiving every year for as long as I can remember, except for last year. Last year I was in California to celebrate the wedding of our son, Lane. And it was also the first year that my husband was not with us after entering a Memory Care Facility. I am again hosting Thanksgiving this year with my daughter's family but this year I am changing up a tradtion I started several years ago. In 2004 I created a "Gratitude Book" using my skills as a scrapper and stamper and the hundreds of magazines that I had collected over the years where I found the idea.

Prior to Thanksgiving Day I would create blank pages for each family member so when they arrived they would be presented with a blank page where they would then write what they were thankful for in the past year. After the Thanksgiving meal was over, before the table was cleared or anyone had a chance to slip away to either nap or watch the football game we read our "grateful" page. Every year I would hear groans and moans when I handed each of them their page, but I truly think each one enjoyed looking back on their previous pages.

But since the dynamics of our family has changed in the past couple of years, and honestly I am tired of the moans and groans I decided to change it up this year. Once again this is not an original idea, but this time instead of magazines it is the internet that brought me this new idea. Here is thelink to the idea.... Instead of a whole page to write, I have printed out these sweet "grateful tags", cut them out, added a hole plus the re-inforcements and now they are just waiting to be added to the "grateful tree".

And speaking of the tree...this is how I made my "grateful tree".

1) Went out in the garage and found a suitable container. Now your garage may not be like mine which is loaded with stuff so I kinda thought I would find something that would work so I wouldn't have to purchase anything new which would just add more stuff to my stuff.

2) Emily (from the site I found this idea) stated she and her son went foraging in the woods for branches. The only foraging I did was walk to my side yard which contains a large River Birch that drops it's twig branches if the slightest breeze blows, and gathered some that had recently fallen on the lawn.

3) Went down to the basement (which is also filled with stuff) and brought up my bag of styrofoam and Spanish Moss....fortunately they were in the same bag so not much foraging for these either. Stuffed the container with styrofoam and then began to place the branches inside the container in a pleasing manner...OK pleasing to me anyway. After arranging the branches to my liking, I then added Spanish Moss to the top to cover up the styrofoam. This is really messy stuff, doing it outside is preferable.

4) I also decided that we needed to have our pictures on the tree to add to those grateful tags. I made a template in Photoshop Elements the size of the tags and then added and sized the images to fit. Cut them out, added a hole & reinforcement, all to be added to the tree.

So now the new tradition is sitting on the coffee table waiting for Thanksgiving when little tags of gratefulness will be hung.

Old traditions are wonderful, but sometimes there needs to be some new traditions added to the pot. I am so enjoying these "traditions" that all of us are sharing here at FOL. Please share some of your traditions, both old and new, in our flickr pool. We would love to see yours too.

Your Grateful Tree looks beautiful. (I wish I could go in my garage and come out with a pot like yours! I really love that pot!) Anyway, I agree. Sometimes, as families change, we need to change up our traditions. It just makes sense. I think your Grateful Tree is going to be a hit with your family, and that you'll hear far fewer moans and groans!

ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS IDEA! Your photos are stunning and make me want to go make my own Grateful Tree. Love that you were able to find all of the ingredients in your own house (or garage) and came up with such a beautiful creation. I think everyone should be thinking about what they are grateful for at this time of year (even if they need a little nudge)! Thanks so much for sharing this -- I'm sure you have inspired many, including me!

What a fabulous idea! As I mentioned at Snippets, I think I'm going to adopt this idea. It will take me longer to find the ingredients though ... I think your family will love this idea. And, yes, you're so right ... sometimes we can get into a rut with traditions. New twists on old traditions ... a real winner in my book. And you're a winner, too, Deanna!

I know that they moan and groan - but it gets in there. My sister is big on asking grateful question every t-day and the kids moan - but then they talk about it all the way - and remember it later. I love the tree!!

I guess for the moaners, a tag might not seem as daunting, but I would need a journal! haha We had someone over for Thanksgiving one year and they shared a similar tradition of writing on strips of paper our gratitudes and they then kept them in a special jar/container so they could look back upon them later. Love the tree, and what a great centerpiece for the table!! This IS such a great theme for this month!! xo

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